Day Five

What a surprise - I couldn't sleep again Thursday night. So I met up with the other insomniacs at the Meal Tent, where we all charged phones, played Words with Friends, and wrote blogs (or notes for blogs, in my case). Matt from my crew was there again, so we hung out until it was time to get up - 4 am - then we each went back to our tents, assuming there would be enough activity that we wouldn't bother anybody as we packed up for the day. We were both back 10 minutes later, as no one was awake in either of our tents.

I didn't exactly get pretty for
middle-of-the-night blogging.

On the last day, they started us an hour earlier on the build, to get us as far along as possible. I can only guess that they'll start every day earlier next year, to let us get more done before the heat kicks in each day. It was usually in the 70s when we got off the bus each morning.

It has been a really long, hot, difficult week, and Matt said he didn't think he'd have any energy to build the last day. Completely spent by three days spent on the roofs in the sun. But there we were, on the first bus out in the morning, already working on the site before the rest of the crew even got there. Enthusiasm on the last day is fantastic - things get completed quickly and easily, we can sprint because we can see the finish line. We also know that there is a post-build that will finish what we can't, which provides a little relief from guilt.

REMEMBRANCE DAY

The Canadian Remembrance Day ceremony changed a bit - it became a much bigger deal, so there was a reading of "In Flanders Field" over the PA, and two minutes of silence site-wide at 11.11 am. People gathered in the center of block 2, essentially blocking work on both of our houses (the HFH Videographer set up on our scaffolding), but making us all a little proud to be at the center of it. A Canadian flag had been raised on a long 2x4, and an American flag soon followed.

Some time during that silence, President and Mrs. Carter appeared at the ceremony, working their way through the crowd to the front. I thought it was a tribute to the crowd that they were focused on the sentiment of the moment, and hardly noticed them. At the end of the silence, Cathy, the Canadian who had done the readings, started us in "O, Canada". Afterwards we waited in an awkward silence for the Americans to jump in, but no one did. Finally, Allison (the Canadian) began "The Star-Spangled Banner" and the Americans followed along. You know how I love to sing the anthems? I was on the opposite side of the square from my houses, and there were about two hundred people at the ceremony. I'm told I could be heard above everyone.

Later the Irish flag appeared, taken from one of the houses on which the Irish were helping us build. I talked to one of that crew, and told her I wish I didn't need so much rest (or could drink better), or I'd come and join them at the bar when I woke up at 2 am each day. I asked her how they could keep it up day after day. She said their ability to drink all night and be up for work before dawn was starting to defy science. Even they are impressed at their stamina.

OUR HOMEOWNERS... OR NOT

Remember how I learned some Creole because I was upset that it took us until Day Four in Thailand to learn that the person we were building with wasn't the homeowner? Well, we communicated the heck out of our homeowners this time. Creole, French, and Spanish were flowing freely on the site all week. The homeowners were engaged and contributing and having a great time with us. Except that on Day Five, we found out that they weren't actually our homeowners. I couldn't f-ing believe it! Marlene worked side-by-side with us for days, but we didn't know she was actually only the cousin of a friend of the homeowner for that house. Albérique was the boyfriend of a relative of the homeowner, who still told us we built the porch wrong because he wouldn't be able to get his motorcycle up there.

CARTER PHOTO

We did so well to finish our houses, they actually moved our scheduled photo from the other crew's house to one of ours. To be fair, the other crew with whom we were getting our photo taken was one of the ones that did not have a House Leader, so we were impressed at how far they came on their own. We got our roofs and porches done, siding finished, shutters on, and one front door hung for the photo. We also, thanks to Irv, were one of the few homes that completed the interior walls which separated a bedroom (approximately the size of my cot) from the rest of the house (approximately the size of my master bathroom at home).

Both crews lined up for the Carter photo - its a quick-strike thing where they shake the hands of the actual homeowners and present them with signed Bibles, ask a couple of questions and then turn around for a single group photo. People worry about how they look, because they don't realise how small they will appear in a photo of 20 people - I don't think you can see me at all in this one. Prior to the Carters' arrival, I distributed the gifts I had brought for the crew - actual Jimmy Carter campaign buttons for them to wear in the photo. You won't see much of us, but you will see those. President Carter seemed amused.

DEDICATION CEREMONY

The photo is followed by the Dedication Ceremony for the houses, which was relatively quick as we were the last house photo taken before the Carter house. Diana conducted the ceremonies with help from Rico, and she came up with the brilliant idea to have a ribbon cutting for each house, with two ribbons each. The first ribbon on the porch was cut by the person who represented the homeowner and worked with us all week long, the second was at the entrance to the bedroom and was cut by the actual homeowner.

During the ceremony, everyone thanked each other for the hard work and camaraderie of the week. Irv announced that he had actually been invited to work on the Carter house, but told them he would rather work on whatever house Vic was on. We all saw his point - Vic was incredibly patient, explained things in ways that could be understood, quickly evaluated skill levels and assigned us all tasks at which we could succeed, and was outspoken about the need to rest if we were not feeling well, so there was no guilt about going to the cooling bus when needed. From what we heard about other House Leaders in contrast, I determined that Vic was actually more nurturing than the House Leader on the Women Build houses.

PACKING UP

Cleanup consisted of getting everything off of the site and returned to Supplies, including the extra tools that we were donating to make it easier for Habitat to continue their work. Back at camp, and enormous pile of donations grew after dinner at the far end of the Meal Tent - clothing, tools, toiletries, even luggage. I personally had 3 pairs of work boots and unopened toiletries to donate, and even picked up another couple of pairs of work boots on my way over. (You'd think I'd have less luggage after shedding 25 pounds of tools and other donations, but it just made me pack like an idiot and take up just as much space.)

This was the hardest build I've done, but my most productive. One of the things my trainer had me do to prepare was simply walk a lot to get used to being on my feet so much, which really helped avoid the foot problems I normally have on builds. That went a long way toward keeping me in the game - it's the little things. (In Thailand, my feet blistered almost immediately, and I got to take A/C time outs in the med tent so they could change my dressing twice a day.) Conditions were better than we were told they'd be, but it was pretty rough - the weather was hotter than it was supposed to be, showers were colder than I thought they'd be, tents were more crowded than I expected. But every single person I talked to said they would be back next year to do it all over again. Including me.